How to Pin a File to the Taskbar in Windows 10?

Windows 10 allows you to pin any application or folder to the taskbar or Start menu and access them faster. For some unknown reason there is no official way to pin a file to the taskbar or Start menu. Sure, you can use jump list to quickly access files you need. Unfortunately, not every app supports jump lists thus pinning a specific file to the taskbar will be more convenient and useful.

Even though there is no official way to do this (you can’t simply drag and drop a file to the taskbar), you don’t need additional software or quirky Registry Editor hacks.

How to Pin File to the Taskbar or Start Menu?

All you need to do is to pretend that the file you are trying to pin is an “app”. Here is how to pin a file to the taskbar:

Open File Explorer and locate the file you need. You can pin literally anything, as soon as you follow the instructions below.

Click View tab and check File name extensions. This toggle enables file extension after the file name. You need this option to quickly change the file format and to trick system to think that it is an app.

Right-click the file and select Rename or press F2. Change file extension to .exe. For example, Image.png should become Image.exe. Windows will warn you that changing file extension may render this file unusable. Press Yes.

File thumbnail will change to basic executable file thumbnail. This is how it should be.

Now you can right-click this file again and select pin to taskbar if you want to pin a file to the taskbar.